©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia

186 FAUST
-Ask it of priest or of philosopher,
And the reply seems but a mockery
Of him who asks.
MARGARET. Then thou dost not believe!
FAUST. Misunderstand me not, thou best-beloved:
Who can name Him, and, knowing what he says,
Say, 'I believe in Him '? And who can feel,
And, with self-violence, to conscious wrong
Hardening his heart, say, 'I believe him not! '
The All-embracing, All-sustaining One,
Say, doth he not embrace, sustain, include
Thee 1-Me ?-Himself ?-Bends not the sky above?
And earth, on which we are, is it not firm?
And over us with constant kindly smile,
The sleepless stars keep everlasting watch!
Am I not h er e gazing into thine eyes?
And does not All, that is,
-Seen and unseen, mysterious all­
Around thee, and within,
Untiring agency,
Press on thy heart and mind ?
-Fill thy whole heart with it-and when thou art
Lost in the consciousness of happiness-
Then call it what thou wilt,
Happiness i-heart i-love !-GOD!
I have no name for it-Feeling is all;
Name, sound and smoke,
Dimming the glow of heaven!
MARGARET. This is all good and right;
The priest says pretty much the same,
But in words somewhat different.
FAUST.
Everywhere,
All hearts beneath the universal Heaven,
In its own language each doth utter it­
Then why not I in mine?
MARGARET.
)Iade easy thus
'Tis plausible-yet must it be unsafe:
Thou art no Christian.
FAUST.
MARGARET.
Hush, my child.
I grieve to see the company thou keepest.
©Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia